Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 5 Plus could be unveiled on 16 July

There's excitement in the air when Xiaomi announces a launch event. In this case, 16 July is the day when the recently rumoured Xiaomi Mi 5 might be unveiled.

But what will give you good cause to hyperventilate is when you hear what the purported Mi 5 has to offer. The Mi 5 allegedly comes with a 5.2in quad-HD screen and a 16MP rear camera. Some might say the 13MP front camera is an overkill, but judging from how the selfie trend is still going strong, we’ll have to disagree. Plus, a 3000mAh battery to handle the daily abuse you dish out from snapping photos non-stop and posting them on Instagram sounds about right too.

The key difference between the Mi 5 and Mi 5 Plus would be the processors. The former will most likely adopt the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset. The latter, however, is rumoured to be powered by the Snapdragon 820 processor, which translates to a later release date for the Mi 5 Plus.

Judging from the pricing strategy of previous Mi phones, the Mi 5 will most likely follow a 2399 yuan (S$530) price tag that’s usually marked for its high-end Mi phones. Presumably, the Mi 5 Plus will be marked even higher, perhaps similar to how the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro were priced.

As for the teaser image itself, there isn't much info, but what is definite is that Xiaomi will be announcing a new product (or products) on that day. The letters P and K, or perhaps a rotated T, doesn't add anything insighful either.

While news of a new Mi phone does get the heart pumping, it also begs the question of whether it’ll be available outside of China.

Earlier this year, instead of launching the Mi 4 that’s been out for a year, a modified version of the popular smartphone landed here. The Xiaomi Mi 4i was almost everything the Mi 4 was, minus the metal body (with a plastic chassis in its place) and a reduced 2GB RAM.

We’ll know more when 16 July rolls around, and confirm if it’s truly the Mi 5 and Mi 5 Plus making their debut. Or perhaps, an updated fitness tracker.